The Marine Electronics Hub
Today Fusion announced the MS-RA670, the third head unit in their Apollo line of marine stereos. I’ve been testing one for a few weeks and it looks like the 670 slots in between the top-of-the-line Apollo MS-RA770 and the much smaller MS-SRX400. Here’s the lowdown on what the 670 offers and how it fits within the line.
This was a nice surprise. It used to be tricky to connect a Navico MFD Ethernet network with a consumer-style boat router — and it remains impossible with some MFD models I’m pretty sure....
Behold the Victron “app” now running on the Simrad NSS7 evo2 that I’ve been long testing on Gizmo. Now I can see all sorts of power data on a bright MFDs at the helms, and I can even use the integration to control the boat’s Victron Multi charger/inverter or configure many of the power system components. And this valuable feature only required some software updates and an Ethernet adapter cable…
Sometimes you just want to turn down the volume or skip to the next track, and the Fusion ARX remote is the right tool for that job. The remote’s simplicity, size, and flexible placement allow it to be mounted in the perfect spot to control your stereo, or in several such spots. I now have four of them installed on Have Another Day and this entry will detail why they’re making me happy.
When the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Virgin Islands charged Rick Smith with “seaman’s manslaughter” last fall, it kicked off months of press coverage and online sailor chatter… But I did not feel that I understood the incident — or could glean any particular safety lessons from it — until I read “THE TRAGEDY OF DAVID PONTIOUS: Did a Scopolamine Patch Drive Him to Suicide?” by Charles Doane…
In the last six months Blue Guard Innovations’ BG-One Smart Bilge Pump Switch with Oil and Fuel Detector racked up new product awards, winning an IBEX Innovations Award, a Sail magazine Pittman Award, and a DAME design award Special Mention. So it’s great to have one now installed on Have Another Day, and so far I’m liking both its performance and the amount of information it provides.
Viking Life-Saving Equipment has designed an almost frightening number of innovations into its LifeCraft system, so it’s good to see that it apparently tested fine in North Sea waves ranging from 12 to 15 feet with 33-foot peaks. The system may soon make big cruise ships safer, and perhaps some of the technology will work its way down to recreational vessels…
SiriusXM Marine Weather on your boat is getting cheaper and likely to get more capable in the near future. Furuno and Raymarine have both recently released new SiriusXM weather and audio receivers at very attractive price points. The two receivers look very similar and it turns out there’s a very good reason.
Aqua Map has added a premium tier called Aqua Map Master that adds AIS overlays, data via NMEA-0183 and SignalK over WiFi, US Army Corp of Engineers survey data overlayed over charts and a new route explorer. With Master, Aqua Map adds several features I haven’t seen on any other mobile app that I’m excited to try out.
Dear John, I gather you’re upset about the invoice to replace the oil pressure sender on your boat’s generator, although it was hard to understand the voice mail you left. It was almost like you were spitting into the phone. Just send me an email about it. It won’t seem as wet.
Regards, Bill…
